Daniel Barenboim

BEETHOVEN FOR ALL / Symphonies 1- 9 4783511

. . . Barenboim galvanised himself, urging the violins to sing out the main theme and events finally became airborne. The final injection of adrenaline was administered by René Pape, in a declamatory intervention delivered in magisterial voice.

Concert Review /
Mark Pullinger,
Classicalsource.com / 28. July 2012

. . . [Concert review]: [let me] hail the performance of the Pastoral as exquisitely projected in an engagingly old-fashioned way . . . [Beethoven: Symphony no. 5]: a properly triumphant performance to hail not just Beethoven's genius but Barenboim's for creating, in conjunction with Edward Said, this trailblazing contribution to Arab-Israeli understanding . . . This Beethoven cycle is one of the highlights of this year's Proms . . . [CD review]: as tangible evidence of a tremendous achievement by both Beethoven and Barenboim's band, the set is well worth acquiring.

Concert Review /
David Mellor,
Mail on Sunday / 29. July 2012

. . . Barenboim launches into Beethoven with energy, precision, insight and humour, and the results are fascinating . . . the Beethoven Symphonies are given a riveting forensic examination . . .

Miscellaneous /
Michael Waldman,
Gramophone (London) / 25. July 2012

. . . [Barenboim] gives the music space to express its significance, and his interpretation is romantic and weighty . . . a handsome souvenir.

Record Review /
Time Out (London) / 26. July 2012

Of Barenboim's many achievements, the greatest may turn out to be the creation of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra . . . As this set of Beethoven symphonies shows, the orchestra is technically on the highest level. It meets all of Barenboim's demands . . . there are many fine things in the Ninth, that ultimate challenge . . . everything is balanced, and with an excellent chorus and a decent quartet of soloists, the last movement is an inspiration . . . this is a worthwhile and often moving set.

These recordings are also far from any routine: in them coincide the orchestra¿s freshness with the knowledge of the artistically mature conductor . . . a unity, an impression of continuum laying to the cycle . . . Barenboim notices like no one else the function of details, of the most imperceptible transitions, and he reveals them to us with a perfect distinction of levels. There are no pianissimos more expressive than his, and the crescendo, for example, is less a state that can enrapture itself (like meat that cooks too fast) than a process that must be constructed. To him, the dynamics are inseparable from the time. The result is one of an amazing transparency.